Can you put watermelon rinds in compost? Watermelon peels for the garden are of great benefit to plants Watermelon peels as fertilizer in the garden: watermelon peels are used for medicinal purposes
The well-known phrase "it will come in handy in the country" has become almost the main slogan for any summer resident. And, indeed, those things that interfere with your apartment expect only two outcomes: either they will be thrown into the trash, or they will come in handy in the country or garage. Let's talk about what not to throw in the trash.
What kind of garbage and things can really be useful, and not just litter the shed on suburban area? Let's start with the most banal, but very useful things for giving.
citrus peel
Don't throw away the peels of oranges, grapefruits, lemons, and other citrus fruits. It can be used to control aphids.
To do this, spray the bushes with infusion. To prepare it, we grind fresh crusts in a meat grinder. Take one kilogram of crusts, place in a glass bottle and fill with 10 liters warm water. Close the cork tightly and place in dark place for five days. Shake the mixture and strain through cheesecloth. We spray the bushes with the addition of tar soap.
wood ash
IN wood ash contains a large amount beneficial trace elements. These elements are necessary for plants for proper growth and development. Ash also helps in the fight against pests and diseases of many crops.
Experienced summer residents know that with the help of ash, you can fertilize the soil, use it when planting seedlings, process seed material before planting, etc.
Old clothes and shoes
There are many ways to give a second life to unwanted or damaged clothes.
Our grandfathers knew the simplest and most direct application - dress your garden scarecrow in it. Add a couple cans and tie them at such a distance that they rattle against each other when the wind blows.
From old shoes now fashionable "pots" for flowers can be obtained. Arranging such flowerpots in the flower garden, you can create new interesting compositions.
Sew an organizer with lots of pockets from old denim. It is convenient to store various trifles in it.
Carton boxes
Boxes devoid of adhesive tape and various colored inscriptions are a real treasure for a summer resident. They can line the bottom high beds or mulch the soil around shrubs. You can also put weeds in them so that they do not germinate into the soil.
Toilet paper rolls
Cardboard sleeves will help create biodegradable pots for seedlings (why not a replacement for peat?).
Coffee grounds
Do you know perhaps the most expensive fertilizer that can be used to dilute compost? This is coffee grounds. Just calculate its cost (from 1000 rubles per 1 kg). In connection with this circumstance, it can be called the most expensive fertilizer.
Coffee residues after brewing are added to the compost. Coffee enriches the soil with many elements, promotes plant growth and early seed germination.
egg packaging
In cartons from under chicken eggs can be stored various little things or like balls Christmas decorations. Cardboard perfectly protects fragile things from impact, and convenient cells will not allow small objects to mix.
Summer residents use one-piece packaging to mark places for planting seeds or bulbs.
Eggshell
There are many benefits to chickens, not only in terms of eggs and meat, but also the leftovers from it all.
My egg shell idea is to add crushed eggshells in a coffee grinder or mixer to the soil. This reduces the acidity of the soil, saturates the plants with calcium and repels slugs.
Glass bottles
Many summer residents use bottles to create paths or borders. Some go even further, building a house out of them.
Plastic bottles
This is a separate issue. What only of them will not come up with! We will write a separate article about this.
watermelon rinds
Watermelon, as well as melon peels, you can wipe the leaves of a number of plants, for example, ficus, to add shine.
Watermelon rinds can also be added to compost.
Cans
A well-washed jar can be painted and decorated, and then used as a bird feeder in the garden, a coaster for kitchen appliances.
Wooden furniture
Use a chair or table as a stand in the flower garden. Later, the flowers will grow or beautifully braid the furniture, and your garden will be decorated with an original composition.
An old shell with small flowers planted in it, for example, forget-me-nots, looks interesting and outstanding.
Wooden crates are great for storing fruits and vegetables. It is better to transfer the fruits with paper to prevent moisture and rotting.
In decorating the site, the boxes can be used as stands for flower pots or other items. The container must first be painted in your favorite color.
tea bags
Some people manage to plant vegetable seedlings in tea bags. To do this, they cut off the top of the bag and pour one spoonful of soil inside - something like a peat tablet.
What should not be used on the site?
No need to use newspapers and colored packaging - all this is a dangerous chemistry that is harmful to humans.
Well, and finally, you should not put anything in the country - you are resting and working here!
The fact that household food waste can serve good service in the garden, now many say. That is why they are not too lazy to make useful supplies in the winter.
BAG - BATTERY - BAG
For a long time I adhere to the separate collection of household waste. And a few years ago, food waste (except for meat and fish) generally began to be collected in separate buckets and all accumulated was taken to the site. Somehow I accidentally read in the newspaper that one summer resident passes bread and eggshells first through a meat grinder, dries on a radiator, and only then sends them to the site. And I improved the technology.
I sew two bags of printed cotton: bag No. 1 - for collecting daily allowances food waste, bag number 2 (larger) - for weekly storage. For the Soviet meat grinder, I took a large grate and a knife (photo 1).
In the kitchen, next to the trash can, I put a plastic bucket with a volume of 3-5 liters. All food waste without signs of decay, before being thrown into a bucket, I chop with kitchen scissors. In the evening I pour the contents of the bucket into bag No. 1 and put it on the battery for a day.
At the end next day I pour the contents of bag No. 1 into bag No. 2 and also leave it near the battery. And I fill bag No. 1 with fresh waste.
At the end of the week, I pass the contents of bag No. 2 through a meat grinder, after which I put this mass into plastic bottles (photo 2).
In our family of two, by the end of the week, 350-450 g of dry product is obtained, and in 6 months - from 4 to 6 five-liter PET bottles weighing 3-3.5 kg each. The resulting mass can be successfully used for adding to the wells, mulching, composting. This is a wonderful "dessert" for the soil. And what's good - in dried crushed form, it takes up little space!
TIP: you can simplify the technology by excluding a meat grinder from it. After the food waste in bag No. 2 has dried, put it on the floor and trample it thoroughly with your feet. And instead plastic bottles You can use bags for construction debris.
FERTILIZER FROM THE KITCHEN
I have four jars in my kitchen. In one whole winter I collect eggshells, in the other - dry onion peel from healthy bulbs, in the third - sleeping tea, in the fourth - dried orange and tangerine peels. I will take all these stocks in the spring to the dacha, where they will be very useful. By the way, the collection of some of them has its own secrets.
Eggshell
To avoid bad smell, I try to rinse the eggs with water before cooking. Then I dry the shell and, ramming it, put it in a jar. For use in the garden, I then grind it: I break it with a pusher or grind it in a coffee grinder. Where to apply?
The shell (1-2 st. per 1 sq.m) deoxidizes the soil and improves its structure. By the way, they say that when cooking, part of the calcium is washed out of the shell, so the shell is more useful for deoxidizing the soil. raw eggs, but I collect any.
Shredded shells every year in the spring I bring in trunk circles roses. on beds for peppers, eggplant, beets, watermelons and melons.
With the water left over from boiling eggs, I water seedlings and house flowers. Or like this: washed, crushed shells from 3-4 raw eggs, pour 1 liter of boiling water, insist 5 days, stirring daily. With this infusion 2-3 times I feed the seedlings of peppers, eggplants, asters.
tea leaves
Before. how to put it in a jar, I dry the sleeping tea leaves well, otherwise it will become moldy. By the way, you can collect any tea: black, green, small, large, loose, even tea bags.
Where to apply "kitchen" fertilizer?
I pour it into the holes when planting seedlings. This is especially liked by tomatoes, cucumbers, physalis. The soil is more breathable and moisture-intensive.
It is good to add tea leaves to the soil mixed with ash when digging beds for gladioli - plants grow more powerful, bloom earlier.
And you can feed seedlings with sleeping tea: 1 tbsp. pour dry raw materials in three liter jar, pour hot water, insist 4-5 days, stirring occasionally, strain.
FERTILIZER FROM BANANA OWN HANDS
I lay out the skins of bananas on the battery, and then I clean them in paper bags. Then I put three skins in a jar (3 l), fill it up to the neck with water and leave for 2 days. I'm filtering. I water seedlings or houseplants with ready-made infusion.
I add the crushed peel in the spring to the holes when planting seedlings.
Bananas before removing their skins, be sure to wash them well under hot water, because it is possible that they were treated with special substances during growth.
ONE HUNDRED QUESTIONS ABOUT WASTE
Tatyana MIRONCHUK, a social entrepreneur, talks about ways to properly and environmentally manage waste, while our system of separate waste collection is imperfect.
Compost is not so easy
The most environmentally friendly option for processing food waste is composting: when fungi and bacteria, under the influence of oxygen, turn organic matter into fertile soil.
But there is also a special compost, in the creation of which worms take an active part. What is its uniqueness? Passing through the intestinal tract of worms, organic matter is enriched with valuable substances. They significantly increase soil fertility, improve its structure, reduce acidity, inhibit pathogens, stimulate the growth of plant roots, their immunity. Our vegetables, flowers and bushes are becoming more resistant to radionuclides and salts of heavy metals.
The more worms in the ground, the more such soil. So, we need to help them be fruitful and multiply. This can be done using a vermicomposter both in the country and at home in a city apartment.
It consists of 2 boxes stacked on top of each other. In the upper one, with a perforated bottom, worms live in the soil layer, and the lower one serves as a limiter so that they do not crawl away through the side and bottom ventilation holes.
Such a “unit” is sold (about 10 thousand rubles, without soil and worms) or is made by hand from two containers in which holes are drilled for ventilation and removal of excess moisture.
California worms or prospectors are easy to buy from breeders. The set costs from 300 rubles.
After the "worm" is equipped and populated by small tenants, you have to take care of them - to support desired temperature, monitor the moisture and acidity of the soil, slightly loosen the soil for ventilation, feed, but do not overfeed.
Diet normal and extreme
What can you feed the worms, what garbage will they eat and recycle?
Allowed products: peeling vegetables and fruits, sleeping tea leaves, coffee grounds, eggshell, paper.
Do not give: meat, dairy products, eggs, fish, citrus fruits, various oils, fats, onions, garlic.
I conducted an experiment: I put a turtleneck, which consists of cotton and synthetics, the worms ate the cotton part, and the synthetic mesh remained.
In order for the worms to pass through the food faster, it is crushed. Otherwise, they will wait until the food begins to rot and soften, and this is both an unpleasant smell and midges.
There are also limits on the amount of organic matter that worms can process. On average, 2000 worms will eat about 2 kg of food per week. If you put more, the soil will turn sour and the eaters will “run” out of the soil in different directions - they will accumulate in balls in the corners, crawl into the pan.
You can choose ready-made compost regularly: a little bit, carefully, so as not to disturb the worms. Or one-time, forcing them to "lay low." For this, they are not fed for a week, after which they are calmly removed. upper layer compost.
With this type of processing bad smell no, but it is troublesome and requires attention and time. True, there are other options for environmentally friendly recycling.
Bucket with a secret
The EM technology (effective microorganisms), known to all summer residents, is not bad. It was developed by the Japanese professor, doctor of agricultural sciences Teruo Higa.
It is based on accelerated fermentation of organics with the help of a preparation containing microorganisms. It is in the selection of the composition of these microbes that the merit of Terua Higa lies. Anaerobic (not requiring oxygen) and aerobic, heat- and cold-loving species coexist in its preparation.
There are liquid preparations and Bokashi powder on sale. All together it will cost about 2000 rubles. They can be poured out into a regular compost bin, or into a special EM bucket, which is also convenient for country house, and for a city apartment. This is a 15-liter container with a tap at the bottom to drain the liquid that is formed during the fermentation of organic matter.
Waste is put into a bucket, poured or sprayed with EM preparations. The content gradually sags, and you can put new garbage. The liquid from the EM bucket is used to feed plants, including indoor ones, by diluting it with water. It is also very good for cleaning pipes in country houses.
This is the undeniable value of the method, but there are also disadvantages. It takes a month to completely process organic matter. Therefore, semi-decomposed, wet remains from the EM bucket should be buried once a week in the ground or laid out in a compost bin in the country.
Dry and grind - that's the way out
It is clear that neither a vermicomposter nor an EM bucket can cope with all our garbage. How to be? Most skins, peels, cores and husks can be dried. It's generally perfect way for lazy vegetarians: I put a mesh bag with cleanings on the battery and after a few hours I got dry organics.
Dry potato peelings good as a fertilizer berry bushes: they are added dropwise under a bush. And one more thing: in some magical way, when burned in the stove, they clean the pipes well from soot.
If it suddenly happens that I have waste that cannot be dried, and the worms are already full, I look to see if the organic matter can be chopped with a knife and sent to the toilet. Through the sewer, it enters the sedimentation tanks, and then as fertilizer to the fields.
6 PERSONAL RULES
If all this is unacceptable, you can take another elementary ecological path. Just cut down on food waste!
Follow the rules that will improve the budget and reduce the pressure of garbage on the environment.
Make a shopping list when you go to the store so you don't buy too much and then throw it away.
Pay attention to what's in your trash can.
This way you will determine what and how much you throw away most often, and also get an impulse to change your habits.
Store food in airtight containers to prevent spoilage, and freeze some vegetables if you don't eat them right away.
Distribute food wisely in the refrigerator. Move closer the ones that are nearing their expiration date. When purchasing new ones, place them away. An organized refrigerator will help you not only throw away less food, but also plan your next purchases.
Keep an eye on the portion size, because too large will fill the trash can faster, empty your wallet, and ruin your figure.
Buy vegetables and fruits non-standard shape. They remain on store shelves, and their fate is sad. But they are normal, tasty and healthy. But from the store they go to waste.
DO NOT THROW OUT THE WATERMELON PEEL! (Dr. Popov P.A.) Often people are disturbed by the noise in their heads. It is a consequence of hypertension, which occurs most often from stress, from malnutrition. Doctors prescribe various drugs for treatment, in particular those that remove fluid from the body. I will talk about a wonderful, harmless, very effective medicine - everyone's favorite watermelon. Watermelon, indeed, removes toxins from the body, cleanses the kidneys, cleanses the blood. But how do we eat watermelon? Yes, with pleasure, but only its pulp. We always throw away peels and seeds. And in vain. Because it is an excellent medicine in the treatment of hypertension. So, if you collect watermelon peels and seeds, dry them well and grind them, you get the medicine you need. Harvesting and contraindications of watermelon peels There are practically no contraindications, only individual intolerance and allergies. But regular intake can lead to a decrease in potassium in the body. To make up for its deficiency, you need to eat foods rich in potassium: raisins, Harvesting watermelon crusts, prunes, nuts, dried apricots, honey. In addition, crusts should be treated with caution during exacerbation of the gastrointestinal tract. intestinal diseases, flatulence. To prepare the peels for future use, you need to rinse thoroughly, peel off the green top layer, you can leave it, cut into pieces about 1 cm, fold in one layer and dry in the shade. You can dry the crusts in a slightly heated oven, first for an hour and a half at a temperature of 30-50 degrees, and then another 40 minutes at a temperature of 70 degrees. The peels keep for a year. You can also prepare the top green layer, cut off no more than 2 mm with a knife or a vegetable by peeling, dry and grind into powder, store in cardboard box up to two years. Watermelon rinds increase urination without being irritating urinary tract and kidneys. Fresh crushed crusts will help with osteochondrosis; they need to be brewed and added while taking a bath. 20 grams of fresh and dry peels are poured with a glass of boiling water for infusion and drunk in half a glass 3-4 times - this is an excellent diuretic. The benefits of watermelon peels for obesity. Put 2 tablespoons of watermelon peels in a thermos and pour 0.5 liters of boiling water. Drink in several doses to remove salts. 1-2 tsp powder from peels or fresh peels, grated, pour boiling water (you need 1 cup) and leave for 20 minutes. Treatment: a glass of infusion 3 times. Cleans from harmful debris accumulated in the body. Take half a teaspoon of watermelon peel powder, stirring it in half a glass of water, or you can take kefir, twice a day between meals with coronary disease, insomnia, obesity. Mix 2 tbsp peels (shredded) with the zest of 1 lemon, pour a glass of boiling water, leave closed for 2 hours, reception: 3 tbsp. l. 4 times 10 minutes after eating with obesity. All infusions must be filtered. Be healthy!!!
I will call this method "waste to income."
First about the advantages of this method:
1. No material investment
2. Labor costs are minimal
3. All you need is a shovel and a bucket
Now let's go directly to work .
We choose a bush or tree that needs to increase soil nutrition. Actually, any pet in the garden needs it.
We retreat from the trunk of a bush or tree so as not to damage root system and that the branches do not interfere. For example, in an adult apple tree, I retreat from the trunk by about a meter.
And we dig a hole wide and deep on the bayonet of a shovel:
As you can see, here I retreated from the trunk of the bush in general about twenty centimeters. my model in this case a honeysuckle bush protrudes (honeysuckle goes into hibernation early, which is why the bush looks so unsightly).
For the show, I prepared half a bucket of carrion.
We pour the carrion into the pit:
And right in the pit we chop with a shovel:
We make three or four such holes around the trunk of a bush or tree:
We put the dug earth nearby.
The holes are gradually filled.
As soon as kitchen waste appeared, I throw it there.
As she collected bad fruits or weeded the beds, she threw plant residues into the pits.
Slop is also poured into the pits.
As soon as the pits are filled, they must be covered with the excavated earth. Perhaps a mound is formed. Not scary! As it rots, as well as during the winter, plant waste will freeze and settle. And by spring the earth will be level.
You can make such pits or trenches anywhere in the garden. And not only around already planted bushes or trees. This can be done at the intended site for planting a tree or shrub. Only, of course, this must be done in advance so that plant waste has time to rot and turn into compost.
You don't have to worry about the lawn. There is a flat lawn around my adult apple trees. And no one guesses that sometimes I feed apple trees in this way. I carefully remove the sod, take out the earth on an oilcloth, do everything that is described above, sprinkle it with earth, and put the removed sod back. And the surplus land, if any, I scatter in the garden or use it for another purpose. For example, for indoor flowers.
I start preparing such pits at any time of the year, as long as the soil allows. That is from early spring to late autumn. But I, most often, do this summer and early autumn, because it’s not very pleasant to stomp in boots on squelching soil and freeze. And also because at this time there are especially a lot of plant waste: carrion, tops with horticultural crops. All this can become a wonderful compost right under the tree.
Thus it is possible prepare trench beds.
But it's better to cook them late summer or autumn for the next planting season.
To do this, I dig a trench deep on the bayonet of a shovel. I know a summer resident who digs with two bayonets. I think this is redundant work. But he seems to be more comfortable that way.
The width of the trench depends on how wide the bed I want to make. Length, respectively, too.
I put the dug earth (it will not be so much) next to it.
In the trench I put kitchen waste, plant residues, mowed grass, weeds (which have not yet inseminated!). If I want to make the bed warmer, then I put hay, sawdust, fallen leaves. It's kind of biofuel.
Of course, I do all of the above not at once, but over time. It happens that it takes a month to “stuff” the beds.
In the same way, I chop with a shovel and mix the contents of the trench in the process of “stuffing”, pour out the slop or spill it with water, if necessary.
As soon as the trench bed is filled with plant debris and other things, I lay the very dug earth on top. That is, the principle is the same as for the pit.
The bed will seem higher, but over the winter, of course, the internal contents will fall off.
Such beds will be warmer than ordinary beds, because they are quickly warmed up by the sun and decaying plant "garbage".
It is best to sow on such beds cucumbers, zucchini, squash, pumpkins.
If the top layer of the earth is not less than 15 centimeters, then I also sow dill, lettuce, radish.
Other crops (especially carrots, garlic, beets) are best sown on this bed in a season, and preferably in two. Not all cultures like rotting plant "garbage".
The frequency is:
* in the 1st year I sow cucumbers, zucchini, zucchini, squash or pumpkin,
* for the 2nd year - peas, beans or other legumes, cabbage (I don’t “fill” the trench beds with anything)
* for the 3rd year - the rest of the crops (naturally, I don’t fill the trench beds with anything)
By the way, the "waste to income" method is perfect for those who has no opportunity or does not want prepare compost heaps or pits.
You do not have to look for a special place for compost heap at the country house or personal plot. And you can easily dispose of all plant waste by preparing trench beds or landing pits.
In addition, there is no need to waste time transferring compost from a compost heap or pit to beds or under fruit trees and shrubs. The compost there already, one might say, "fits" itself, as evidenced by the teeming in such pits or trenches
The main task of an amateur summer resident is to restore and increase the fertility of the soil on the site. Indeed, without this, there can be no talk of high yields delicious and healthy vegetables and fruits. And in order to improve the quality of the soil, large doses of organic matter must be introduced into it. Purchasing manure by machines is an interesting option, but very expensive... Where can an ordinary retired gardener get organic fertilizers from?
The answer is simple - you can make the best fertilizer from kitchen waste! Each average family of three annually disposes of 400 to 500 kilograms of organic substances in the form of food waste. But if you use them to make compost, you can not only get economic benefits, but also contribute to improving the environmental situation in your area.
Kitchen waste can be collected in separate bags and taken to the site, or it can be dried on batteries central heating and store in large plastic bags before the onset of spring.
The peels dried in this way can be used in a variety of ways:
- with the onset of April, pour them into a compost bin, pour over with warm water and cover with a dark film to activate the decomposition processes.
- add waste to a barrel or tank, fill it with water in a ratio of 1: 1 and cover with a lid. Excellent after 7-10 days organic fertilizer will be ready for use. Before doing this, do not forget to dilute it with 10 parts of water.
- in May, kitchen waste accumulated over the winter can be scattered under horticultural crops along the perimeter of their crown, sprinkle with soil and mulch with mowed grass.
- it is also good to add such organics when laying warm beds(although, I must say, in this case they cannot serve as a full-fledged replacement).
Let's see how else you can use different types kitchen waste in the backyard.
Eggshell
onion peel
We are constantly accumulating the husks left after cleaning onion. It is impossible to overestimate it for a garden-garden. We put a handful of onion residues in the holes when planting cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes. Spraying and watering cucumbers with infusion on the husk allows you to significantly extend the period of their active fruiting (and is also a prevention). In addition, it helps to fight aphids on cruciferous plants.
Orange and lemon peel
Dried citrus peels can be used to repel aphids and ants from garden beds. This waste can also be used to make excellent fertilizer(recipe can be viewed).
From the codling moth to fruit trees you can apply the following infusion. Pour a few handfuls of dried and chopped peel into 5 liters of water, bring to a boil and insist for a day. Then add 20 grams of urea there and a little laundry soap, strain and thoroughly spray the plants with a garden sprayer.
Potato peeling
Potato skins can be dropped next to raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries. If this is done in winter, then this will prevent its unwanted germination. In spring, by peeling potatoes and other root crops, plantings can be mulched garden strawberry(just wait until the soil in the plot is warm enough).
Potato peelings can also be used to prepare an infusion for feeding. To do this, add a liter jar of peel to 10 liters of water, boil for 1-3 minutes, cool and pour 2-3 liters under each currant or gooseberry bush.
fish leftovers
It is useful to lay fish bones and skin in holes when planting tomatoes and potatoes. Of course, this should not be done if stray cats are in charge of your gardening partnership - they will get a fish from the ground and destroy the plants.
water from cooking
If you live close to the site, be sure to use unsalted water left after boiling pasta, vegetables and eggs, for watering your favorite crops. Such water contains a lot of useful macro- and microelements for the nutrition of garden plants.
